LEARN RESPECT, LIKE CLOUGHIE!

WRITING in his 1994 autobiography, Brian Clough explained that his hatred of Don Revie’s Leeds United was fueled by their lack of respect for authority.

- Chris DUNLAVY

“I despised what they stood for,” he wrote. “Systematically putting referees under pressure, both physical and verbal, their overreactions, and the unsavoury spectacle of (Billy) Bremner running alongside the referee constantly yelling in his ear.”

Just imagine what Old Big ‘Ead would have made of Roma and Jose Mourinho, whose shameful antics in Wednesday’s Europa League final defeat to Sevilla made Leeds look like Corinthians.

Mourinho was one of 14 players and staff members to be booked in a game which at times descended into farce.

Players feigned injury, picked fights, hit the deck under non-existent challenges and vehemently contested every decision, right or wrong. Sevilla were far from blameless, but Roma plumbed the depths.

What happened on the sidelines was even worse. From first minute to last, Mourinho and his staff engaged in an orchestrated campaign of intimidation towards referee Anthony Taylor and fourth official Michael Oliver.

They took it in turns to hurl abuse and collect bookings, mimicking the approach used by Mourinho when he instructed his Spurs players to systematically hack Wolves’ Adama Traore during a Premier League game in 2019.

Worse was to follow, with Mourinho filmed confronting Taylor in the Puskas Arena car park before calling him a ‘f***ing disgrace’.